Button retainer



0d 31, 1967 N. G. RALEIGH, JR 3,349,447

vBUTTON RETAINER Filed Jan. 19, 1966 Fi g 6 INVENTOR.

NORMAN G, RALE|GH,JR.

United States Patent Office 3,349,447 BUTTN RETAINER Norman G. Raleigh, Jr., El Cajon, Calif., assignor of ten percent to Lorraine E. Whalen, El Cajon, Calif. Filed Jan. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 521,721 6 Claims. (Cl. 24-90) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This is a button retainer comprising a narrow elongated band with a special eye at one end and a head at the other end and further having a stem on the head end specially adapted as a leader to facilitate insertion through the cloth of of a garment, through the hole of a button, returned through the same, and through said eye, whereupon the stem lor leader is broken olf and discarded, such breaking otf being facilitated by local weakening of the stern adjacent said head.

1ne present invention relates to fasteners and specifically to a button retainer.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a button retainer for use with all types of normally stitched buttons, and which is applied manually without tools of any kind, the retainer having a material penetrating point which is easily detached and discarded after use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a button retainer which is self-locking when fastened and which will not be become loose or disconnected, even under rough usage.

Another object of this invention is to provide a button retainer which is extremely low in cost to manufacture and which is equally suitable for temporary use or for permanent use in the initial making of garments.

The Ibutton retainer and its application are illustrated in the drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the button retainer;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a view showing the initial insertion of the retainer through a piece of material and a button, shown in section;

FIGURE 4 is a similar view showing the return threading of the retainer;

FIGURE 5 is a similar view showing the final locking of the retainer; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional View taken on line 6 6 of FIGURE 5.

Similar characters of reference indicate similar or identical elements and portions throughout the specification and throughout the views of the drawing.

The button retainer, generally indicated at 10, comprises an elongated band portion 12 having an enlarged head 14 at one end and an enlarged eye portion 16 with an eye opening 18 at the other end. Extending from head 14 in parallel opposition to the band portion 12 and essentially a continuation of the band is an elongated stern 20 terminating in a point 22. The essential characteristic of the head 14 is that it is slightly oversize in a dimension transverse to the shaft 12 with reference to the opening 18 so that when the head has once been forced through the opening it will be wedged against subsequent retraction, the stem serving as a leader to feed the band portion back through the eye. The head 14, as illustrated, is substantially wedge shaped and has inclined entry edges 24 converging toward the stem 20, the entry edges continuing into notches 26 on opposite sides of the stem which form a reduced width neck 28- at the junction of the head and stem. On the side toward the eye 16 the head has stop shoulders 30 projecting on opposite sides sub- 3,349,447 Patented Oct. 31, 1967 stantially perpendicular to the hand portion 12. The eye opening 18 has a pair of notches 32 diametrically opposed on a line generally parallel to the length of band portion 12 and thus perpendicular to the width of the head, the increased width of the eye opening afforded by the notches being slightly less than the maximum width of head 14 at the stop shoulders 30.

Retainer 10 is a flat element of tough, flexible plastic material, such as nylon, Teflon, or the like and can be molded or economically stamped from flat sheet material. For purposes of reference a convenient size of retainer would be about two and three-quarter inches l-ong overall, with a band portion about one-sixteenth of an inch width. This size would accomodate a variety of common 4buttons on shirts, jackets and the like, but should n-ot be considered limiting.

To facilitate application the point 22 preferably has a hardened portion 34, shown shaded, for ease of penetration through material, and the neck portion 36 of stern 20 adjacent the reduced neck 28 is similarly hardened or made brittle and frangible to break olf when required. The hardening may be accomplished chemically, thermally, by radiation, or other means, depending on the material used, various techniques being presently used for such localized changes in material characteristics. Alternatively, on the point portion at least, a coating or covering of hard material could be applied.

To use the retainer the point 22 is forced through the appropriate portion of the material 38, from the inside, as in FIGURE 3, and through one hole 40 of a button 42. Next the point is returned through the other hole 44 `of the button and back through the material 38, the point being passed through eye opening 18 to make a complete loop of the retainer, as in FIGURE 4. The stem 20 is then pulled to draw head 14 through the eye opening 18, the stern being twisted to align the head with notches 32 and facilitate passage. The inherent resiliency and slight elasticity of the material will allow the head to pass through the undersized opening with little effort. When the stern is released the band portion 12 will tend to straighten out and pull the head back into alignment, out of registration with notches 32, so that the stop shoulders 30 lock the band in place through the eye 16, as in FIGURE 5. Finally the stem 20 is broken off at the neck 28, leaving only the small head 14 protruding from the material, which is evident in FIGURE 6. Due to the small dimension across the neck 28 and the nature of the material from which the retainer is made, the broken edge is relatively smooth and will not damage other clothing or lacerate the skin. With larger sizes of retainers it may be desirable to cut off the stem, but this is a matter of choice since the neck is designed to break off and allow fully manual application without tools.

While the application is illustrated with a common perforated button, it will be obvious that the retainer can be used with buttons having loops or integral eyes on the rear face. Further, for heavy duty buttons having four holes, two retainers could be used on a single button, one through each pair of holes, to provide a very strong attachment.

The retainer is ideal for temporary use to repair a loose button and can be conveniently carried for that purpose, but is also suitable for permanent use in newly manufactured garments, due to the low cost and ease of attachment. A very few standard sizes would suliice to accomodate all sizes of buttons normally used.

It is understood that minor variation from the form of the invention disclosed herein may Ibe made without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the specification and drawing are to be considered as merely illustrative rather than limiting.

I claim:

1. A button retainer, comprising:

a narrow elongated band portion and an elongated stem substantially continuous therewith;

the end of said band portion at the junction with said stem having an enlarged head;

the other end of said band portion having an eye with an opening therein slightly smaller than the maximum width of said head, Said eye being slightly resilient so that said head may be forced therethrough;

and said stem being a leader only and having a material penetrating point at the end remote from said head, said stem and point, in use, constituting means to guide the head through cloth of a garment, a button and said eye.

2. A button retainer according to claim 1 wherein the retainer is a unitary, flat strip-like element and said stem is easily separable from the remainder of the retainer after being inserted through said eye.

3. A button retainer according to claim 1, wherein said stem has a reduced width neck portion at the junction with said head to facilitate detachment of the stern.

4. A button retainer according to claim 3, wherein the portion of said stem at said neck is more readily frangible than the remainder of the retainer.

5. A button retainer according to claim 1, wherein said eye opening is substantially smaller than the width of said head and has opposed notches perpendicular to the head, the maximum opening afforded by the notches being slightly less than the maximum width of the head,

6. A button retainer according to claim 1, wherein said penetrating point is hardened.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 150,878 5/1874 Mix 24-94 2,104,885 1/1938 Robbins 24-90 2,361,506 10/1944 Smith. 2,681,488 6/1954 Ferrajolo 24-90 3,164,250 1/1965 Paxton 24-30.5 X

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,309,873 10/ 1962 France.

726,238 10/ 1942 Germany.

22,229 1912 Great Britain.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

D. A. GRIFFIN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BUTTON RETAINER, COMPRISING: A NARROW ELONGATED BAND PORTION AND AN ELONGATED STEM SUBSTANTIALLY CONTINUOUS THEREWITH; THE END OF SAID BAND PORTION AT THE JUNCTION WITH SAID STEM HAVING AN ENLARGED HEAD; THE OTHER END OF SAID BAND PORTION HAVING AN EYE WITH AN OPENING THEREIN SLIGHTLY SMALLER THAN THE MAXIMUM WIDTH OF SAID HEAD, SAID EYE BEING SLIGHTLY RESILIENT SO THAT SAID HEAD MAY BE FORCED THERETHROUGH; AND SAID STEM BEING A LEADER ONLY AND HAVING A MATERIAL PENETRATING POINT AT THE END REMOTE FROM SAID HEAD, SAID STEM AND POINT, IN USE, CONSTITUTING MEANS TO GUIDE THE HEAD THROUGH CLOTH OF A GARMENT, A BUTTON AND SAID EYE. 